Italian Beans and Greens with Escarole

Escarole is a leafy green that is part of the chicory family. If you pass it in your local grocery store, you might confuse it for a giant head of leaf lettuce. Like its cousins in the chicory family, escarole is considered a bitter green. It may be counterintuitive, but escarole’s green outer leaves are more bitter, so they make the best addition to rich stews like this one. The inner leaves are more tender and mild, and are most often included in salads or layered into a sandwich.

Any of your favorite greens will work in this recipe including tuscan kale, curly kale, Swiss chard, turnip or mustard greens, and even broccoli rabe. Escarole is a fairly quick-cooking green, so depending on the substitution, you may need to add the greens to the pan and let them cook down for 4-5 minutes at medium-high heat before adding the beans and stock to ensure everything is fully cooked when the beans are warmed through in the stew.

Any canned white bean will work in this deliciously humble dish. Navy beans, great northern beans and white cannellini beans are my go-to choices. If you’re starting with dry beans, soak the beans in cold water overnight, then cook according to package instructions. Drain and add to the recipe as prescribed in the instructions.

If you’re serving this beans and greens dish as your main, drizzle each bowl with olive oil, a little bit of fresh lemon juice, parmesan and a chunk of crusty Italian bread. A few add-ons that bring even more protein and richness would be a soft-boiled or poached egg, or a skewer of grilled shrimp. If you’re cooking for non-pescatarians / vegetarians, you could add ground Italian sausage to the stew, or shred some rotisserie chicken in at the end and allow it to heat through.

I first made this dish when we were in Paris visiting friends, so I visited markets all over the city looking for the perfect bunch of escarole. Turns out “perfect” was really, really large. This leafy green vegetable head needs to be cleaned well – if you have a salad spinner, you could chop up the head and rinse and clean it in the spinner. Since I was cooking analogue style in the airbnb, I clean each leaf and cut into bite-sized pieces before adding it to the Dutch oven.

Escarole brings a bitterness that complements this rich stew. But we do want to keep it in balance and not let the bitterness take over the dish. Salt and acid are the perfect balance to a bitter green. So tasting and adjusting the seasoning in your stew before serving ensures you have the best flavor. Topping your finished dish with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a shaving of parmesan makes it even better!